Chapter 21

Colin’s point was that the emperor blocked Ober from mounting a counterattack before he rose in revolt. That was a very plausible speculation, and Marianne agreed to some extent.

“But Ober may not act rationally as you think.”

Marianne recalled her death just a few days ago.

Her appearance at the garden that night was probably an unexpected variable that Ober hadn’t planned for. And as soon as he was faced with the variable, he immediately changed his plan and drowned her in the lake. Maybe these people did not know Ober’s true character yet.

“That’s…” Colin slurred the end of his sentence. It wasn’t because he didn’t know how to respond, but because he wasn’t sure if it was okay to answer a little more.

He hesitated and then looked at Eckart.

“If you know too much, it will be hard for you to deceive Ober because you are overly honest,” Eckart said, twitching his crossed fingertips. His tone was strangely provocative.

“If you’re going to randomly select the intelligence you give me, I’ll also selectively inform you of the tips that I’ve obtained.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“No, I would call it an act of revenge, if I have to name it.”

She held her own in response to his challenge. In terms of the influence, she knew she was no more than a daughter of a noble family, while the other party was the emperor. Nevertheless, if she found herself in a disadvantageous situation like this, she would jump into the fire in spite of herself.

“If you don’t hide anything from me, I will not hide anything from you, either.”

“Was it because you were born and raised in the northern part of the border? You are always too scared.”

“Compliment? Thank you.”

Mariane smiled brightly. Eckart looked at her acting shamelessly and then rang the bell on the table twice.

Clang, clang!

As soon as the bell rang, the back door of the reception room was opened and the waiters came in in groups. Not one or two, but dozens. One-third of them had colorful baskets and pots, while the rest were holding neatly-organized large and small boxes.

After they came in an orderly manner, they put down the items on the table one by one. A path of blooming flowers trailed from the window to the couch where Marianne sat. Inside the boxes that opened with the creaking of hinges was a mountain of gifts. A variety of dresses and accessories, shoes and hats, gloves and fans were displayed.

“What the heck is all this…”

“If I didn’t hide anything, you also said you wouldn’t hide anything, right?”

Dumbfounded by all the gifts, she let out a sigh.

“This is not what I want to know,” she said.

“Let me give this one as my proposal flower, and let me take the rest of them as stolen goods left behind by the cheater.”

Come to think of it, she received his proposal yesterday. Though it was so unexpected and messy, she couldn’t find anything like love in his confession.

“Your Majesty, I…”

Eckart stood up before she was done talking. He motioned the waiters out of the room and walked slowly towards the cluster of flowers.

“Even if Ober recklessly mounted an attack, he couldn’t possibly kill your father.”

The reception room was piled with potted plants and bouquets which looked like a part of the garden. There were all kinds of flowers that bloomed in spring. Ranunculus, tulips, daisies, freesias, hyacinths, daffodils, and the lilies and roses with early buds in the Imperial Palace greenhouse. Many other flowers also emitted their own fragrances. Their fragrances were so strong that they even felt dizzy when they stood near them.

Eckart wandered around a cluster of flowers and pulled out the stem of a flower with young buds. It was a unique lily, a rare breed called the Snow Queen. The tedious and boring report that Jed brought to him included even the kind of flowers that the daughter most cherished.

“By the time the imperial bulletin comes out in Lennox, the duke won’t be there.”

While she was carried away with the beautiful flowers, she opened her eyes wide with surprise at his remarks.

‘Isn’t my father in Lennox?’

“The bulletin was dispatched all over the empire this morning. It will arrive in Lennox probably within four days. But it won’t take one day for a messenger bird that I sent last night to cross the walls of Lennox, and another day for it to move during the night without being caught. Two days are more than enough. The messenger bird was a pheasant very well trained for military purposes.”

Marianne’s green eyes sparkled in the sun.

Even before the bulletin was printed, the emperor sent that messenger bird in advance.

‘By the time the newsletter arrived in Lennox, my father was out of it. If he was not in Lennox…’

“Did you arrange for my father to flee in advance?”

“Yes, that’s what happened.”

He could describe it as ‘escape’, but maybe her father would be taken as hostage like her.

If he could stay safe, however, that was the best option for him.

“I believe he is safe, isn’t he?”

“If the owner of the messenger bird received the message on time.”

“Who is the owner?”

“Well.”

Eckart walked back to the table. Marianne stood up after biting her lip. The hems of her pink dress brushed the wool carpet.

“Your Majesty, I did not ask for a deal because I coveted the gifts like this.”

She pointed to a box of jewelry nearby. He slowly approached and stopped to face her.

He looked down at her with his dark blue eyes.

“I fully understand that you can’t trust me totally. But it’s unfair to keep me away from important information.”

Her firm tone and clear eyes reflected something like her strong will. That reflected her anger.

“I heard the knights don’t show their backs to those they can’t trust on the battlefield. But you already decided to show your back to me, no matter what. Is it your strategy to fight against your allies in the back when you are struggling to fight with the enemy forces in front of you?”

Although she figuratively mentioned a knight to indirectly criticize the emperor, her remarks were like direct criticism. What she meant was that the emperor was trying to waste his forces instead of trusting his men on the battlefield. This was a direct attack on the emperor, which only Jed, not Colin, could initiate.

Eckart frowned at her critical remarks.

“Do you think you’re a great ally of mine to protect me behind my back?”

“If I betray, I can at least tear the cloak that covered your back.”

“I could kill you first before you do.”

Eckart regretted a bit after answering her question in a fit of anger. He felt he didn’t need to answer like that. He felt it was a shame for him to threaten a powerless citizen by showing off his power as the ruler of the empire.

“That’s why I trust you. I decided to trust you. Although you won’t sacrifice for me, I won’t stab a knife in your back as long as I trust you. Do you want to go to the battlefield with someone who doesn’t have that kind of moral obligation or loyalty?”

“…”

“I don’t like that type of person. He is too dangerous. It really exhausts me to stand against Ober alone as an enemy. You have to deal with more enemies than me. Why are you trying to keep me in check?”

She spit out everything she wanted to say, but regretted it in no time. The other party was the emperor. She never heard that Eckart, namely Frey VII, was a tyrant, but if he ordered his men to drag her out of here on charges of defaming the royal family or for a violation of lese-majeste law, she had no other choice but to kneel before the guillotine.

To make her restless, Eckart was silent for a while. As she wondered if he was thinking of how to punish her, she opened her mouth, looking at his face.

“Your Majesty. What I mean is…”

“Well, I hope you are not Ober’s spy. ”

“Pardon? What did you say? What are you talking about?”

She got upset and protested against his nonsensical response. So far, so good.

But it would have been much better if she hadn’t stepped on the long front hem of the dress while coming forward. A lily in Eckart’s hand fell on the carpet.

“…

“…”

It was thanks to Eckart’s excellent reflexes that he could catch her timely. When their eyes awkwardly met up close at that moment, they slowly blinked. There ensued an awkward silence between them.

“Hey, folks, you picked a quarrel with each other only a moment ago. Don’t you think you are trying to reconcile so quickly?” When Jed made fun of them, they quickly distanced themselves. She began to tuck up her skirt with an embarrassed look.